Wax Comparisons

During the last quarter of last year, the UK had a few nice days of sunshine and as I had a few days off work owing to me, I decided to use my holiday up. That time was put to good use and completed a little project I wanted to try for myself. It’s often done on YouTube, but not to this degree, I think.

There are often a few car cleaning products compared on YouTube channels, but not ten side by side, with the same testing criteria by the looks of it. When I say “Top Branded”, I mean top manufacturers and their best selling products for normal weekend washing warriors on the street. Those of us who like the best products that work and at reasonable prices using traditional waxes, not the latest in thing of ‘Hybrid’ or ‘Ceramic’ waxes. Lets face it, there are some truly great products on the market at the moment, some of which are even essentials of my own cleaning routines, still. To put this into context there are waxes out there that are expensive for expensive sake, like Swizöl International’s Divine costing £2,150, Brough & Howarth’s Definitive Wax Marble costing £24,000, Zymol Vintage Glaze costing £2,400 or The Ultimate Shine costing an insane £65,000 which can be seen here: http://www.performancemotorcare.com/car-cleaning-product-news/worlds-most-expensive-car-wax/1808

However, there has been (a strong) rumour that the ‘Ultimate Shine’ wax itself is actually made by Mitchell & King in Scotland. I can’t verify this, but can only state what I have read so far. The original mix (allegedly) sold by M & K is called Gold Rush Rally at £75 a pot which is a mere 0.11% of the price! This brings me back to my point, although these ten waxes are (mostly) affordable and will last a good number of applications, they are not in that stupid silly money league. However there is an in-between level of Luxury car waxes such as Swissvax Crystal Rock at £300, BMD Prometheus £120, Auto Finesse Desire at £120 and Mitchell & King’s top of the range wax ‘Lily’ around £600 where only One pot is made a year, or anything in between from M&K for a comprehensive range of waxes between £45 to £600.

I will be reviewing Mitchell & King’s ‘Lily’ in a very special review coming soon. This was purchased with my wife’s very own money for a special Christmas gift. Before anybody asks – No, I’m not on commission or paid by them.

If you can afford those crazy sort of prices I suspect you will get somebody else to clean the car for you. I’m guessing most of those super high end waxes are being applied to Veyron’s, Ferraris or any other super or hyper car where money is no object. Then there is the other end where Poundland stores sell car shampoo for £1. Pure logic dictates that there has to be a difference right? But somewhere in the middle, there is a sweet spot and that’s these sort of products I have reviewed here.

Anyway, back to these standard off the shelf and top selling waxes, I have been very happy with most of these waxes and will continue to use them on my daily cars. Some do a great job and perform well after application. That’s why I really wanted to compare these particular mainstream products. Picking the best of the best that I like, then at a later date this summer step up to the ‘Real Luxury’ car wax to see the real differences, if any. But a couple of these waxes are getting close to treading on the toes of the ‘Luxury wax’ end of the market; Dat Wax and Illusion based on their cost to volume ratio. The scores I have given in the past to some of these products I stand by. At the time I didn’t know any better or had anything else better to compare them against until now that is.

Costs:

Multiple products which varied from a very reasonable £12 to a eye watering £75. All these products I purchased myself, no sponsorship to skew reviews. These are my own thoughts and findings for the products with my own hard earned cash I parted with for each of them.

Meguiar’s :

Gold Class paste £21 for 311g click here for individual review

Ultimate Wax Paste £40 for 311g click here for individual review

Mirror Bright Polish Wax £23 for 226g click here for individual review

Nxt Gen liquid Wax 2.0 £26 for 532ml

Auto Finesse :

Glisten £12 for 500ml

Illusion Show Wax £75 for 150g click here for individual review

Chemical Guys :

Butter Wet Wax £23 for 473ml

Cherry Dripping Wet wax £23 for 473ml click here for individual review

Instawax+ £16 for 473ml click here for individual review

Dat Wax :

£25 for 100ml click here for individual review.

YouTube video of this written review:

The full video of this test can be found on my YouTube channel or here for the shortcut or paste the link to YouTube. It’s easier to see what is going on rather than read about it. The video lasts for thirty two mins or so and has be trying to film, commentate, wax and buff all at the same time. I think I pulled it off after a bit of editing.

https://youtu.be/mfUyFS-hRk8

Date Of Review:

October 2019

Background:

I have reviewed many products for detailing, especially waxes and quick detailers. Some have been rated 10 out of 10 by me when I tested them. Which at the time was correct as I used the product in isolation. However, there are always those nagging thoughts in my mind; what about side by side comparisons? Are the expensive waxes worth it? Can you tell the difference? I aim to answer these questions the best I can.

When you apply a wax on it’s own you can only gauge by what you are working with, application may be great and buffing at the time. But, you forget how others perform that you had previously used or reviewed.

So; I got my favourite waxes out and decided to compare them. That’s five hard paste waxes – old school and my preferred option. Then five soft or liquid waxes of similar products not made in a wax form.

The top three big boys are Meguiar’s, Chemical Guys, Auto finesse and a wild card of Dat Wax.

There are only really three actual ‘hard’ paste waxes which are the Meguair’s trio, Gold Class, Ultimate and Mirror Bright Polishing Paste Wax (made by Meguiar’s). The Auto Finesse Illusion and the Dat Wax are both very soft butter texture type waxes not quite liquid, but not a hard paste in comparison either.

The Sales Pitch(s):

These are found under each of the reviews I have done to date. See the links above. I still have a proper Glisten review to do and my latest purchase of the Butter Wet Wax.

Each of these products claims to have the best shine possible and protection, but they can’t all be right can they?

Instructions:

The instructions were followed on the tins and bottles of each product. The donor hood was my 2014 Toyota Avensis in a metallic grey. I divided the hood into roughly ten even sections via some masking tape. The day was overcast and sunny, but not enough to make the metalwork hot to the touch.

The top five sections were for the hard waxes, and the bottom five sections were for the soft waxes.

Top; left to right – Meguiar’s Gold Class, Meguiar’s Ultimate, Mirror Bright Polish wax, Auto Finesse Illusion, Dat Wax.

Bottom; left to right – Auto Finesse Glisten, Meguiar’s NXT Gen 2.0, Chemical Guys InstaWax+, Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax, Chemical Guys Cherry Dripping Wet Wax.

Application:

The hood was first given a wipe down with quick detailer to get the light dirt off.

The hood was then clayed with Auto Finesse clay bar and a Megs Quick Detailer, not the greatest detailer it has to be said, it’s recommended by Meg’s as a clay lubrication product as well.

The hood was then given a good spraying with 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol to remove anything left, which was quite a lot based on the clean white 100% cotton cloth.

My fingers dragged and squeaked across the paint, I knew then it was clean. The hood was the taped up ready to apply the products.

Each Product

Rather than going into pages and pages of what I did and how I did it, the video will show you each product as I went along.

Each product was applied with a clean applicator or cloth. The pastes and liquids were left to haze except for the Auto Finesse Glisten which could be buffed off straight away. It took around 15 minutes for all the waxes to cure / haze over.

Each buffing was done with a clean 280gsm microfiber cloth all from the same manufacturer for consistency, the only difference being the colours. I tried to apply each product in the same way, and buff off in the same way. The only difference being the Mirror Bright Paste as that required working into the paint as it was a polish as well. Failing to apply that correctly would have compromised the product. It’s interesting to note that the Auto Finesse Illusion and the Dat Wax never actually hazed over probably due to the oil content not evaporating.

I tried to apply the products to the paint for the same amount of time, and buff to a shine for the same amount of time for continuity.

Each product was only applied once to the cleanest of my paint work I could muster up. That way they all have a same starting point. It was obvious that some required additional coats to get to the desired levels of coverage. But, to be honest, you do need to actually build up the wax layers. It wouldn’t be fair to apply two coats of one and just a single coat of another.

The Video

This is a full half hour video I uploaded to my YouTube channel. The Video has me narrating (some say droning) on what I was doing and what I had found on the comparisons. Put thirty minutes aside and enjoy.

Results:

Don’t get me wrong, I like these products or I wouldn’t have bought them in the first place. I have previously given some of them 10 out of 10 for a review. They are all (mostly) great products from the top suppliers.

HOWEVER; when they are side by side there is a difference and I didn’t think for one second that the results I got were what I was going to predict below, that actually shocked me.

The results I decided to do in three categories. Touch, Shine, Water Sheeting/Beading.

The Touch Tests:

No matter where I go at a car show and my car is all shiny, somebody wants to feel the paintwork. Not sure why, but they do. So I decided to make that a test. No amount of photos will ever show you the feel of a wax.

Process: I had a single cloth soaked with Isopropyl Alcohol that I could wipe my fingers on between each touch test. That way I had no other waxes on my fingers to cross contaminate to the next touch test.

After a single application of the products and allowed to cure then buffed, touch test was ready. This was a simple feel for the surface, was it smooth, was it streaky or still there. My fingers really could feel a difference. The Meguiar’s Gold Class applied an adequate coating, but no doubt about it that it needed two or three applications to become a nice smooth barrier like the rest. It was really odd to feel the paint roughness still though.

I often refer on the video to a wet feel, of course it wasn’t wet, but just sort of feels silky or smooth buttery texture.

The touch test results are for the Pastes waxes:

1) Mirror Bright,

2) Dat Wax,

2) Auto Finesse – Illusion,

4) Megs – Ultimate,

5) Megs – Gold Class

Conclusion for Paste Waxes: The mirror Bright just felt like glass where as both the Dat Wax and the Illusion felt more oily which was to be expected by their constitution to be honest. Some may prefer that type of feel. Ultimate was in no way a let down and felt like the Mirror Bright but not quite as deep feeling as it were. The Gold class could be felt as a coating there but certainly not great on a single pass.

The touch test results for the Liquid waxes:

1) Chemical Guys – Butter wet,

2) Chemical Guys – Insta Wax+,

3) Megs – Tech wax 2.0,

4) Chemical Guys – Cherry Dripping Wet,

5) Auto Finesse – Glisten

Conclusion for liquid waxes: The CG Butter Wet Wax was the clear winner here with the Instawax+ with hardly any difference and a close run for top place. Megs Tech Wax 2.0 felt just like the Ultimate and a glassy feel to it. The CG Cherry Wet Wax was super smooth but just shaded a little by its siblings, a second coat and I would say it would be right up there with the winners. Glisten was on there but felt more watery based and you could feel there wasn’t much of a coating on the paint work, although a little better than then Gold class for a single application.

Overall: There is a difference between the feel of the waxes. The pastes are applying a thicker coating than the misting of Glisten for sure. Especially when you run a finger from bare paint to the waxed areas. It’s a very close thing between the Butter Wet Wax and the Mirror Bright. For a straight forward wax on the Butter Wet takes it, for a little cleanse and slightly harder work the Mirror Bright takes it. The Dat Wax and the Illusion over car show coatings feel like an oily coating to give that much desired consistent smooth look across all panels.

The Visual Inspection

Process: After the applications I was going to look at the colour and how the reflectivity, gloss, depth and warmth of colour of the waxes looked on a paint job. As my car has metallic flake this would be a real tell-tale of shine.

As I mentioned before this was a single application of waxes and inspected from their. The sun was in and out during the inspection. When the sun was out the metallic was made to pop by some waxes better than others.

The results are for the Pastes waxes:

You can clearly see from the top of this picture that the Meguiar’s has warmed the colour of the paint and clear to see.

The results for the Liquid waxes:

This picture shows the same warming glow to the paint from the Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax.

Conclusion:

As each of these products are now applied they should be performing as a finished product as it were. That’s the look of the waxes once applied and the effectiveness of the waxes.

There IS a difference in the way that these waxes can effect the look of a paint, say on a white car using a yellowish based wax will give a warmer glow compared to a white wax for example. It not as immediately obvious on much darker colours. I picked my Toyota as an example to test for the metallic and the neutral grey. My hunch was correct as the colour differences can be clearly seen.

Consider the look of the paint you require if you are that into it, or not worry it’s up to you.

Overall:

The waxes either the paste or liquid made little difference in the end to the look of the paint. A personal preference obviously comes into play as it does all the reviews. But I found the liquid of the Butter Wet wax and the Ultimate wax paste was virtually undisguisable.

1) (Meguiar’s) Mirror Bright Polishing Wax

2) Chemical Guys – Butter Wet

3) Megs – Ultimate

One thing to remember here, the hard waxes will last way longer than the liquid versions just by the nature of how they are applied. This could be a major factor when considering a purchase – value for money.

Water Tester Sheeting and Beading

Process:

I filled a gallon pot with clean water and chucked it over the car. This would show the clearing capacity of the wax properties for sheeting and beading.

I did multiple tests of the water deluge on the video and it’s very easy to see the differences.

On a personal note: to see the beading looks great as there is a barrier between the paint and the water. But as the car moves it will run off anyway. I prefer to see the water run off the car completely, but ‘Bead Bragging’ rights is a huge thing in the detailing circles.

Why do I prefer to see it all run off? Well if dirt lands on the car or dust it will sit around the beads. Once the beads are gone it will leave a dusty layer looking like a moon surface. With sheeting it will at least be a uniform film of dirt.

For the hard wax beading I found the following;

Meg’s Ultimate Wax
Mirror Bright
Meg’s Gold Class
Auto Finesse Illusion
Dat Wax

For the liquid wax water beading I found the following;

Meg’s Nxt Gen
Chemcial Guys Insta Wax+
Auto Finesse Glisten
Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax
Chemical Guys Cherry Dripping Wet Wax

For the Overall Sheeting ability I found the following;

Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax
Meg’s Mirror Bright
Chemical Guys InstaWax+
Dat Wax

Conclusion:

Without a question some waxes bead better than others, Meguiar’s take that crown here with both the paste and liquids.

Large amounts of water should run of quickly, and small rain drops tend to form together until the beads are to big and run off.

A little misting and ALL these waxes will bead very nicely and there isn’t a lot in it at all. In fact I would go far as to say you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Perhaps by full on pour of the water is a little unfair, but the sheeting tests is similar to those used on ceramic coating demos. I was just showing the same type of reaction from a well applied wax.

The difference between the hard and soft waxes is minimal if at all.

Overall:

Such a difficult thing to sum up.

It has to be preference for application. Traditional or old school – Hard wax on, cure and buff off. Great results and little goes a long way. New or time saver – Liquid waxes apply and buff off to a great result. This method tends to use more product, but is cheaper.

Beading / Sheeting, under heavy water its easier to see the ones that deal with it quicker, but allowing for beading they all performed well with the hard waxes being the more consistent beaders.

Scores:

Various out of 10 for these as I have reviewed most of the products before, but more to come soon.

Conclusions:

I’m not convinced that the fine mist spray waxes like Glisten are on a par with the liquids / hard waxes from the other suppliers. Personal preference is a huge factor for application, you either see it as an art form process – hard waxing, or an exercise to keep the car protected and looking good – soft waxes.

Costs between these waxes is insane – £75 for Auto Finesse Illusion that applies beautifully and smells nice looked no different from Chemical Guys InstaWax+ at £16 once both buffed off to a shine.

There is an amount of snobbery regarding brands between users out there. But the big boys vs the cheap end of the market there is a difference no doubt about it. However when you get to these high quality level of suppliers, all their great products in relation to each other there is virtually nothing in it.

Some prefer the wax of ‘So & So’ because it doesn’t streak, but on another car’s paint it may be difficult to buff to a shine. I found that I am using mixtures of brands to get what I want from a detail for a show. No one brand has everything covered better than the rest. You just have to try it for yourselves. If you buy it again then you have a product that works for you. I have a couple of friend’s Craig and David who are both as sad as me when it comes to detailing, we swap products between us to see what we like. I may like the look, but not the process, where as he may like the gloss that I don’t. We have different cars and they are very different colours, white, grey, black, dark blue, light blue etc so we can see the varying results.

I do need to mention that the waxes are dyed. Thats the Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax after applying it to a car for two coats it looked like had been smoking 60 a day for the last twenty years. Same with the Cherry Dripping Wet Wax which left me with red fingers like I had been picking strawberries all day. Just saying!

So, when I go to a car show and a want a wax on the car not just a quick detailer, then it’s a liquid wax. At home with plenty of time it’s back to the hard waxes. I never thought I would hear my self saying that, but I use both types of waxes now. So I have moved on with the times, I think.

Would I buy them again?

To be fair most of them I would, but not the £75 Auto Finesse pot or the Auto Finesse Glisten, not my favourites to be fair, but both are at the opposite end of the price scales to each other. The hard waxes will last me a good few years yet and will probably still be some left to polish the handles on my coffin when I drop dead! Having to choose, the Butter Wet Wax I would buy again, as I would the Mirror Bright polish paste.

Would I recommend any of them?

Without a doubt some I would; such as the Meg’s Ultimate and Gold Class (when multiple layers applied), Butter Wet Wax and Mirror Bright. However, it’s hard to recommend a wax for £35 for few fluid ounces in a little jar or a £75 for a wax that don’t last long as it’s a “show wax”. Especially if there is no real difference that can be seen straight away after application.

Like I said earlier, I am looking forward to using a premium hand blended quality wax which I will review and apply before some car shows – weather permitting of course. To suppliment this post I have also created a Dual Action pad comparison & guide from the manufacturers. Once I have written that up I will also post that very soon before the car show starts again in earnest. This post may not all be exactly Mustang related, but it could be for any car and I hope useful. I have learnt a lot from speaking to the designers of the products and I will share a little of that information in the next forthcoming posts. I am really pleased to say that the blog is also attracting some car detailers to and not just Mustang fans.

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Videos & A Great Soundtrack

On my last post I mentioned that I had a couple of videos to be created and uploaded. The good news is that they are now on my YouTube channel to be viewed as well. I couldn’t wait to do them.

A quick note to point out here, the carburetor was set up at idle and will run all day long like that. But, when the transmission puts the carb under load it will need a few more tweaks for choke, mixtures and float bowls etc. to become more stable. Hence the car sometimes cuts out when cold while engaging a drive gear. It’s an easily sorted out problem of course, but the car will need a few miles under its belt first before those small final adjustments are made once things settle down.

Turn up the volume & enjoy 🙂

The Workshop Move:

The first is of the car being moved for the first from the workshop under her own power. This video was kindly taken by Yogi at Mustang Maniac on Thursday 21st May 2015. The car had all the fluids checked and topped up before attempting to engage the drive from the transmission. The car was lifted off the ground on the ramps and the drive gearing selected for the transmission without load and given some gas to change gears. With the transmission and drive shafts looking OK, it could be stopped and lowered back to the floor. The car was then started up and driven out of the workshop ready to be loaded onto the truck to take her to a show.

The video can also be found on YouTube by clicking here,

First Public Showing:

With the best 2:30 sound track!

Enfield Pageant 21 – 23 May 2015 my car makes its first appearance to the public. The car still has no glass at this point so had to be covered at night and during any weather problems. The car starts fine from cold of course but needs a warm up for the transmission fluids too. This video has a nice extended soundtrack to hear the exhaust note on grass which tends to dull the sound a little. You can hear the difference when the car starts on the flat-bed and when it starts on the grass. If you look in the background you can see some people starting to gather around the car while Adam warms her up.

The video can also be found on YouTube by clicking here,

My main channel with all the videos so far can be found by clicking on the Logo below:

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Weekend Away

This weekend was a bank Holiday in the UK and over those three days Enfield Pageant of Motoring took place. Mustang Maniac had decided that my car would be included in their line up this year. I am so excited about that I can’t tell you. Earlier in the week Yogi had fixed the transmission lever in place and connected it to the auto gear box. The result of which is that the car is now officially a driver. The brakes were bleed, the C4 transmission was topped up, the rear axle was topped up. The car now moves on it’s own and stops on its own. I have a video of the car moving for the first time from the garage. I will post the video up as soon as I can on my YouTube channel.

The cars that Mustang Maniac had taken were their KR GT 500 and an A code 65 Which were on a two tiered truck. My car was on the same truck that orginally took her to Mustang Maniac, the drive on drive off flat back. My car had no seats and time was short to try and fit some on a temporary basis. Yogi fitted the gear lever and linkages and finally fitted the pipework to the vacuum. The transmission was topped up, the steering was topped up, the axle was filled and engine was given the once over. I arrived early on Saturday morning and the guys were setting up the pitch. The large LED screen in the their large RV was showing the progress of my car from start, to the story so far. Adam was waiting to get her of the flat bed so I could see her, I was given the keys. Believe it or not I gave them back to him.

Why did I give them back? It’s simple, I’m unfamilier with the car, it had no seats, it was on a tipped up flat bed. If I got it wrong I could have damaged the car, just for the sake of a few weeks I left it to the professionals drive it off. But as a secret, just between us – there were people watching and I didn’t want to look stupid and let the guys down. But, I do have a video of the car being moved in public for the first time and again I will post it on my YouTube channel this week. When the car started up there was a little cloud gathered to see what all the noise was about. Adam rolled her out and reversed her into the line of other cars ready for the public to look at them.

The other guys Who I have gotten to know very well started to arrive and also parked up. Paul arrived to give the cars a quick valet in the mornings to keep them looking immaculate. Of course who is going to say no to a freshly valeted car? It was quite funny to see Adam and John sit on the floor pan of the car turning a steering wheel on a stick, with just a head on show.

flat bed

John moving her around

I was at the Enfield Pageant Saturday and Sunday helping the guys, answering questions about my car and trying to answer questions about the other cars they had there too. I was in my element, just talking cars all day. My time was just a little payback to the guys for their hard work on my car so far. As I forgot to take my Mustang Maniac shirt, I managed to blag another from Adam. I must say that I got a real buzz out of people looking at my car, many great comments on the paint job and the attention to detail. I stood next to a couple of blokes who were saying that they wanted one just like this, I felt quite privileged to be a part of the elite few that own these cars. I’m a lucky man. The crowds during the days I was there with were all very nice, and to see the look on the little kids faces when they see their favourite cars is a real thrill, I even gave a few of Adam’s key rings away to them. Hopefully it made their day just that little bit more special. Thinking about it, for a load of cars that was around forty years before they were born and yet they still recognise and know the name “Shelby”. Not bad for an old Ford.

During the days there was a little rain so out came the cover for my car. After all the last thing they want is for a car full of water, that would be an expensive puddle to fix.

Such a great weekend and I have really done the weekend justice. But I will promise to upload the videos as soon as I can. Forgive my short post, but I haven’t had time.

I would like to thank, Adam, John, Yogi, Lance, Paul (Lob Monster), Paul the painter, Ian, Spence, Martin, and a Paul the valet.

A truely great weekend.

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A Very Big Week

I have been sent a batch of photo’s from Mustang Maniac which are of my car being loaded onto their transporter to be delivered to the paint shop where her new home will be for a number a while that could be around six weeks we are thinking at the moment. I am so excited that my car has got to this stage. The guys were on hand to make sure she was loaded onto the loader OK. As the yard was a little flooded due to the recent heavy rain fall, a plan to get her loaded during a dry spell was created. Cars had to be moved around in order for the shell to be moved from round the back. Like a parting of waves the synchronised moving and parking was all completed without a hitch. A celebratory cup of tea and a Jaffa Cake or three was in order after the well executed plan came together.

John & Terry hiding behind the car

Terry gives the thumbs up

easy does it

ramp up

tied down

wrapped up

What next till she’s back?

Mechanics for engine, drive train, suspension and steering cleaning and polishing of all the bolt on bits and pieces, pretty much the same as before but on a smaller scale now. Well smaller scale compared to the chassis at least!

The first of those will be the engine of course which has already been started this week. The engine has not been run for around a year now, and the guys mounted it onto their test rig, lightly attached the three-inch headers without the gaskets for now. The bell housing was bolted on, starter motor bolted on, fuel was piped in from a large jerry can standing to the side, a portable jump-start unit was connected then she was hot wired to start. The timing was well and truly out and the distributer needed a good twist to pull it back to the 6deg that is should be for idle instead of the fluctuating 30deg we currently had. We tried again then she barked into life. The engine was allowed to warm up and the oil pressure was checked, water temperatures were checked from the top and bottom hoses in and out of the radiator, the carb balance was initially set up and allowed to run after the timing was set. The engine was now running a little lumpy, the spark plugs were changed to the proper Motorcraft spec instead of the NGK I had previously installed. Fired her up and then she run without any misses at all. The engine was warmed up, rechecked and then given a bit of a progressive high-speed run up. At this point I took a video which has been uploaded to YouTube here, or click on the quick link below for “Ford Mustang Flaming Exhausts”. There were flames from the exhaust which was quite good fun, and no this is not a Photoshopped photo. Turn up the volume and enjoy the sights and sounds from a v8 289cid engine ran in anger!

After the engine was run for a few minutes it was allowed to cool down and taken of the test rig to be mounted onto the engine stand. In my excitement I forgot to take pictures of the engine on the stand, but I will rectify that next week don’t worry. We took all the bits of the engine such as the headers, carb, HT leads, coil, the full distributer removed from the block, starter, water thermostat housing, fuel pump, power steering pump, vacuum lines, crank pullies etc. The engine was now just the heads and block, we drained the oil and as much water as we could. We turned the engine upside down and the damaged oil pan we knew about was unbolted. This is a very common damage to the oil pan which is due to the car being jacket up via the oil sump pan. If you look you can see the circular pattern of the trolley jack.

damaged oil pan

engine code

The next job was to remove the core plugs to see how the water has been flowing around the block and if the water ways are furred up or not. We suspected that they were fine as the engine was not running hot from the previous tests.

Terry used the video scope to check deep inside the block and all looks to be OK so far. I have taken some pics through the core plugs to show the gaps are still open between the cylinder jackets and in very good condition, I even managed to get a shot of a valve through a manifold bore.

water case

valve

The oil pick up gauze was clean and no bits of metal were wedged in there.

oil pick up

oil pump

We checked the oil for any debris and again was fine apart from being very weak. We then checked the timing chain for play which was fine. the engine was cranked over by hand to watch the motion of the pistons were as they should be.

timing chain

Terry then cleaned up the gasket from the oil pan and decided that now was a good time to put everything in containers that should be there. It was getting dark and we didn’t want to lose any bits. Terry put up with a barrage of questions from me and answered all of them and even showed me where I looked a little blank when we got seriously into the engineering!

Thank you Terry for the tutorials.

Quick Links:

“Ford Mustang Flaming Exhaust v8 289ci” from my YouTube channel: OnemanandhisMustang

Click the YouTube icon for the quick link:

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A Burning Question

Today I was in the man cave as I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do this week. One was to treat the back of the headlight doors and remove the stone chips from the front. The other job was to repair the old air filter pan that I had with the car. This particular does not fit my Holley 600cfm carburetor as I suspect it was for the original two barrel Autolite that came with the car. The air pan has been beaten up, dented, rusted up a bit and generally neglected. As I am not able to use it for myself I thought I could do it u, prepare it for sale to make a little extra money, well that’s the plan anyway. The trouble was there was so much old paint that I would need to remove it all and get down to basic bare metal and fill the dents etc. I used a product called POR-Strip, this is a product to remove old paintwork from the makers of POR15. As I rate their paint very highly and thought I would try this product out. It’s great stuff and I have done a review of the product under my consumable menu and also loaded a YouTube video of it as well. It’s not like watching paint dry but rather the opposite! Anyway, the point is that nowhere does it say wear gloves on the tin, it does say avoid contact with skin and eyes and now I know why, it burns like hell. Why didn’t they say wear gloves on the tin? It just amazes me that it’s not on there or wear goggles either. I have a few photo’s here but they are just of the stripper doing its job on the paint after I knocked the dents out. I will post more on the air filter pan work as I go along in the Photo Menu – Under the Hood – Air Filter Pan.

I did have a load of great titles I could have used for this post, but as this is a family rated blog I thought better of using them. Lets just say its a paint stripper, and I will let you think of the permutations possible for it. Not that any of them crossed my mind at all. After all, I do want Santa to call don’t I?

dented outside

dent removed before the paint removed

inside close up dent

close up inside

lid outside

lid stripped

inside stripped

underside stripped

Quick Links:

The you tube video link for the review, click on the YouTube logo

Photo Menu – Under The Hood – Air Filter Pan click here

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It’s a Wrap

I had a thought and I will put this thought out there to see if I am the only one who thinks like this. My Mustang dash area has been butchered by the bloke who owned it before me by cutting a bigger hole for a new style radio. The question is do people listen to the radio in their classic cars, or do they listen to the music of a glorious v8 or v12 thundering down the road? I will of course put an original style radio back in the gap via a repair panel that has to be cut back into the dash, I doubt I will even care if it works or not. The thing is that I imagine myself with the window down, the wind in my hair and the growl of a small block 289ci in my ears.

Any thoughts, or am I just on my own planet Mustang, all sad and alone?

Over the weekend I was pretty busy and only able to do a little bit of work on the car Sunday afternoon. The main thing I wanted to do was to try out the new product I just had delivered. The product is exclusive to Frost and it’s called “Liquid Wrap”. I was interested in this as a product in order to protect the restoration I have already done. The first thing I was going to protect was a chrome bumper as it is just hanging on my garage wall at the moment. The product Is a spray that dries to a rubber coating after a few layers, recommended about five or six. I tried it and I like it. I was sceptical at first but this rubber is unique as the layer can be peeled of at any time. I have done a review of the product under Reviews – Consumables – Frost’s Liquid wrap. I also posted a video in my YouTube Channel as well.

front

(sixth) final coat

Quick Links:

Frost’s “Liquid Wrap” Review click here

Frost’s “Liquid Wrap” on my YouTube channel click the logo:

Frost’s Webpage for the “Liquid Wrap” click here

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Rust Comparison Results

After a wait to see how the products performed, I have some results.

Well the weekend is almost over and I have been busy rubbing down and doing little bits in the car. One of those little jobs is the wrapping of the the under dash wires with black insulating tape to make it look stock. I find that job therapeutic, just like some people find gardening or painting as a therapeutic activity. Am I weird? Any other strange therapeutic stuff people do? Anyway, my other cars have been feeling neglected and so I just had to wash, wax and valet them. As a result I feel as though I have been arm wrestling with Arnie – The Terminator. I ache, and before you say it – I know quit moaning.

The main point of this post is to say that I have some preliminary results for my rust comparison tests, they are a little controversial I think. I had taken the two big guns and put them in a head to head just like Practical Classics magazine did. But this was my own money that was funding this and I wanted them both to be exactly the same. But, my results are the exact opposite so far of Practical Classics results. The two main contenders are Rustbuster – fe-123 and Granville – Heavy Duty Rust Cure. They cost pretty much the same, look the same and even smell similar. But do they perform the same? Simple answer is No. Practical Classic magazine stated that the Rustbuster fe-123 was the winner. However, they were incorrect with their details on how they applied one of the products for their tests. I have explained this fully in the comparison test, the quick link is below for the Practical Classic test and my tests. I had previously purchased from Frost Auto Restoration Techniques the Granville Rust Cure and wanted to see what this new “winner” was all about. So I found an old inner fender splash guard from my Mustang that was really rusty. I applied the products at the same time on the same material. The video was then uploaded to my YouTube channel, One man and his Mustang. This weekend I have taken another video, part 2 and posted that on YouTube as well. The results are very clear that the Granville wins hands down. The Rustbuster was flaking up, peeling and shows signs of the rust reappearing after only a few months. I am very disappointed with the “winner” and its surrounding hype. I have various videos of the Granville in action too on the YouTube Channel.

I bet there will be people out there moaning and complaining about my results. But I have photo evidence and videos of the tests and results. As yet I have not seen any results from similar tests or company. I was going to review the Rustbuster as a separate product on my blog, but I don’t think I will bother now as the results are here. Anybody else like the Granville Heavy Duty Rust Cure? Or is there something even better. I know about POR15 but that is not recommended for the outer bodywork that is ready for spraying, and that came from the POR themselves.

On another note does anybody have a good primer they would recommend preferably available in the UK?

Quicklinks:

Rust Comparison test article: http://onemanandhismustang.com/rust-comparison-test-granville-vs-rustbuster/

YouTube: Rust Comparison test Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8J9MvVlZLc

YouTube: Rust Comparison test Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY2muLWmzwI

Frost – Granville Rust Cure link: http://www.frost.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=granville&x=0&y=0&order=relevance&dir=desc

Frost Main Page: http://www.frost.co.uk/

Practical Classics Magazine Rust Test: Click here for the PDF

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The Yin and Yang effect

Good & not so good

The weekend started of pretty poor, I had a bug which started Friday morning and stopped me in my tracks for 30 hours or so, as a result I have been busy behind the scenes with the blog, more of that in a bit. I managed to get out into the man cave on Saturday mid morning to start the cleaning of my front brake drum. This time the sun was out, and that made me feel better for a start. The birds were singing and I had time to do what I wanted. I started the ritual tidy and clean up, I looked to my side a caught sight of a tame blackbird just by the door, showing no signs of fear. Not only was he just starring at me but looked like he wanted some food, he obviously changed his mind and flew away. Do they sense you wont hurt them? Back in the man cave I spread out the shower curtain to get my make shift spray booth ready. I mounted and sprayed the brake booster on my home made jig. The results were exactly what I was after, that almost natural metal look with a little character of old age pitting showing. I have posted the pics “Photo Menu, Engine bay, Brake booster part 2” or click here. A real good days work was had and it was only and late afternoon, time to get a quick blue ray in too, this is turning into a great day. Coming back in I went to get changed and heard the toilet running, strange, as the wife was out it couldn’t be her. On lifting the lid to the cistern the float mechanism had got stuck open and over flowing back into the bowl. So now my great day was now startin’ to go down the pan literally. Now I’m not happy, I had to get the household DIY tools in to fix it as they are now locked up in the man cave. I found the spare float valve unit that I bought ages ago, but never used from another kit I had. So off came the cistern from the wall, water spraying all over the place from the remains of back pressure in the shut of valve all up the wall of my freshly painted bathroom. The contents of my tool bag now all over the bathroom floor on a damp towel. the cistern parts mixed up amongst them. Reassembling the inlet float valve didn’t take long to be honest. The front door opened and in comes my wife in a great mood and comes upstairs to see what I was doing, I think the odd naughty word slipping from my lips gave it away. Then comes my favourite question in situations like these, “What are you doing?” The fact I have half of plumbing world all over the floor should have been a clue. Avoiding, my more obvious choice of a sarcastic remark when I am in a bad mood, I settled on explaining what had gone wrong and needed fixing. I expect we will probably get a bill big enough to fill a small swimming pool as a result just to make me feel even better about it. At this point she left me to get on with it. But she had bought me a nice cake while she was out. Once the job was done and adjusted for the water levels I took the tools out and locked up again. That cake was well and truly deserved, why? Because the spray job still looked good when I went back to the man cave!

Now here is a thought; is there such a thing as the pleasure & pain thing or Yin & Yang? I found this petrol head spin on the idea, brilliant, I just had to post this:

At the beginning I mentioned that I had been busy behind the scenes for the last couple of weeks. I have tweaked the blog a bit to make it a little more user friendly and added a couple of photos for the brake drum clean here, brake booster treatment and spraying here and a review of Granville Rust Cure here.

I have also started a YouTube Channel “One man and his Mustang”, (clever that huh?) where I will post videos, clips and reviews of what I am or have been up too. There are two videos, one for the products that I am using after I was asked that question, so it made sense to show them. The other is my Granville Rust Cure process. Please subscribe to the channel if you like what you see. or give me some feedback on what you want to see. I have moved the “Contact me” button too in order to make it easier to email me.

I have added a couple of good articles as well, on specifications and options for the 66 Mustang for all body shapes. In fact lots of stuff has been added, I hope you like it.

The best thing about my YouTube Channel? You can see a marked improvement in my video editing and techniques that took a leap forward. If only my car would move along that quick!

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